Roman Law and the Legal World of the Romans

The Legal Professions

duties. Along with these trends, some have detected another. It may be the case that these jurists were of a slightly lower social status than the aristocrats who had dispensed legal advice in previous generations; such men would still have ready access to legal resources, but would be risking less by employing such a specialist strategy. Thus the class of “jurists” became some what more clearly defined than that of “advocates,” though still not precisely fixed, nor formally opposed to the latter group. These trends continued into the first century ad, but the Empire also brought a new development of its own. As the justice system came under the control of the emperors, it was professionalized (and “professional” now becomes a more liter ally accurate term). Leading jurists were hired into government positions. While the Republican posts with influence over the law, most notably the urban praetorship, were not normally filled by experts, the corresponding imperial jobs (say, the urban and praetorian prefects) were. And while these jurists carried out their official responsibilities, they did not cease to publish, at least not immediately. Eventually, in the early to mid third century ad, this public activity fell off dramati cally. Jurists could practice, teach, and hold office, but they had largely ceased to be an independently creative part of the legal system. This, along with a more systematic training in both professions (see the next chapter), brought them back together, at least to some extent. While there does not yet seem to have been licensing to enter either profession, we know that those who had proven themselves morally unfit might eventually be banned from practicing law. In this context, it is worth noting

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